Start With Why

Einstein said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

Children are naturally curious. They explore everything with passion and excitement. Babies look around and follow faces and movement, they wiggle and grasp, they put things in their mouths. And once children are upright and able to move around, everything becomes something to be curious about.

We start off with a strong desire to learn about the world around us. We ask questions and try out all kinds of things. We strive to soak in information from all we see, hear, touch, and taste. We test the limits of our own boundaries and capabilities and watch intently to learn from others.

It also seems that the pull between curiosity and wanting to be right starts young as well. We hear it in the fierce independence of toddlers. And then we see it and experience it throughout our lives. We want to know, but we want to be right. Sometimes we reject any new information just to stubbornly immovable in our own position.

It’s an interesting tension – this desire to be right versus our innate curiosity. Perhaps it’s the push and pull of these opposed desires that propels us forward through our development as people. I know I see in my own son that in some stages of development he is locked in to his rightness and won't entertain any new idea or perspective. Then when he is on the other side of that developmental phase he is open to new information again.

I find the older I get, the more at peace I am that I don’t know everything and the more curious I am to know more. I think the trick is to start with “why?” Ask why a lot, even if only to yourself or in your own head. By starting with why we are always seeking more knowledge. We remain curious about what is happening around us. By asking why we are seeking possible solutions and acknowledging that we may not know the answer.

So start with why

Keep wondering. Keep questioning. Keep seeking more knowledge and building new ideas. Stay passionately curious and maintain a child’s sense of wonder about the world.